by creating a civil war among republicans over the tax issue, whichs extly at happed. he said the 1 requirement i have for any deal is hiking tax rates. the reason that boehner was not able to do plan b was because it involved breaching the principle, which he did openly and said he was ready to do it. there were conservatives who would not do it. that is not a figure of the party that will be extremely hard to reconcile. if you can not, how you get a deal done before january 1? >> that is essentially t problethe president faced th boehner two years ago. last year. can he deliver? how can you negotiate with someone who cannot deliver on his side? >> you go to people for support, at least three of whom have lost their committee assignments. how can you expect them to come over to your way of thinking? >> they were crowing when john boehner went down, taking some delight, but that was pre- cleared by the leadership. the leadership was with him. this is not a question of -- quite bluntly, leaving and losing their virginity on the issue of tax cuts. it is an important thin